SUMMARY
The nature of obesity-associated islet inflammation and its impact on β cell abnormalities remains poorly defined. Here, we explore immune cell components of islet inflammation and define their roles in regulating β cell function and proliferation. Islet inflammation in obese mice is dominated by macrophages. We identify two islet-resident macrophage populations, characterized by their anatomical distributions, distinct phenotypes, and functional properties. Obesity induces the local expansion of resident intra-islet macrophages, independent of recruitment from circulating monocytes. Functionally, intra-islet macrophages impair β cell function in a cell-cell contact-dependent manner. Increased engulfment of β cell insulin secretory granules by intra-islet macrophages in obese mice may contribute to restricting insulin secretion. In contrast, both intra- and peri-islet macrophage populations from obese mice promote β cell proliferation in a PDGFR signaling-dependent manner. Together, these data define distinct roles and mechanisms for islet macrophages in the regulation of islet β cells.
Employing theranostic nanoparticles, which combine both therapeutic and diagnostic capabilities in one dose, has promise to propel the biomedical field toward personalized medicine. Here we investigate the theranostic properties of topological insulator bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) in in vivo and in vitro system for the first time. We show that Bi2Se3 nanoplates can absorb near-infrared (NIR) laser light and effectively convert laser energy into heat. Such photothermal conversion property may be due to the unique physical properties of topological insulators. Furthermore, localized and irreversible photothermal ablation of tumors in the mouse model is successfully achieved by using Bi2Se3 nanoplates and NIR laser irradiation. In addition, we also demonstrate that Bi2Se3 nanoplates exhibit strong X-ray attenuation and can be utilized for enhanced X-ray computed tomography imaging of tumor tissue in vivo. This study highlights Bi2Se3 nanoplates could serve as a promising platform for cancer diagnosis and therapy.
In this article, we examine the behavior of the Riemannian and Hermitian curvature tensors of a Hermitian metric, when one of the curvature tensors obeys all the symmetry conditions of the curvature tensor of a Kähler metric. We will call such metrics G-Kähler-like or Kähler-like, for lack of better terminologies. Such metrics are always balanced when the manifold is compact, so in a way they are more special than balanced metrics, which drew a lot of attention in the study of non-Kähler Calabi-Yau manifolds. In particular we derive various formulas on the difference between the Riemannian and Hermitian curvature tensors in terms of the torsion of the Hermitian connection. We believe that these formulas could lead to further applications in the study of Hermitian geometry with curvature assumptions.
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